Amid peak summer and drying borewells in some localities, Avadi residents have urged the municipal corporation to provide additional drinking water supply. The civic body plans to strengthen pipeline infrastructure in rapidly urbanising areas.

Currently, bulk supply from Chennai Metrowater and groundwater pumped from borewells are major sources of drinking water supply. Pointing out that Avadi was witnessing rapid growth in terms of housing projects and mushrooming apartment complexes, residents said water and sewer infrastructure has not kept pace with the urban expansion.

Members of Kendriya Vihar-II Apartment Owners Welfare Association, Paruthipattu, noted that residents awaited piped water supply network for a decade. V.N.Sainath, retired Indian Air Force officer and resident said “The complex has nearly 572 apartments. We have been paying property tax without fail but lack basic infrastructure. We rely on borewells that have recently dried up.” Noting that the complex needs at least 10 tanker loads daily, he said the corporation must provide additional tanker loads until piped water connections are given.

Residents of some areas like Vaishnavi Nagar, Tirumullaivoyal, also complained of persistent water leakage due to an ageing piped network. T.Sadagopan, president, Tamil Nadu Progressive Consumer Centre, said the Avadi Corporation had been mandatorily collecting charges for water and sewer connections while granting building approvals since 2008. Pipelines laid over the past two decades had suffered damage. The State government must appoint experts from educational institutions to conduct a survey for relaying pipelines, besides allocating a special grant for the works.

Admitting that the water supply infrastructure needs a complete revamp, officials noted that efforts were underway to streamline water supply, replace old pipelines and lay new pipelines, prioritising densely populated pockets and apartments. At present, the Corporation receives nearly 30 million litres of water a day.

R.Saranya, Avadi Corporation Commissioner, said “We have added street tanks in eight locations and are providing tanker supply to cater to only the drinking water needs of residents. The area is not facing water scarcity.”

Though Metrowater was willing to provide additional water, the civic body has not been to tap it owing to inadequate infrastructure capacity. “Most households still rely on borewells. We want to bring households under municipal supply and conserve groundwater. A detailed project report will be ready this year to provide pipeline network to left-out areas,” she said.

The corporation has so far provided about 4,000 water connections under the Rs.55 crore AMRUT 2.0 project. A total of 24,000 water connections would be provided by the year-end.